Technology

Why Merrill Lynch Loves These 3 Mega-Cap Technology Giants

Lee Jackson

Published: August 15, 2016 9:45 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 4:36 am

One of the best plans of action in the stock market is staying with sector leaders. Typically those are more mature companies, but many times a newer outsider hits Wall Street, goes public and takes over an entire industry. For example, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), which has only been a publicly traded company for just over four years. Regardless of their duration, the sector leaders tend to stay that way, especially in technology.

In separate new research reports, Merrill Lynch is very bullish on mega-cap tech companies. Three top stocks are highlighted here, and all three are rated Buy at Merrill Lynch. While not suitable for all accounts, they all make sense for longer term growth accounts with some risk tolerance.

Alibaba

This time two years ago, this company was the hottest thing on the planet and getting ready to come public. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) is the largest online and mobile commerce company as measured by gross merchandise volume, and it had the highest profile initial public offering (IPO) of 2014. The stock has acted horrible since, printing highs at $120 in mid-November of 2014.

Plain and simple, the dominance in Alibaba’s core business, the very hard barrier to entry for competition and new growth opportunities like cross-border e-commerce make the stock extremely attractive. With most of the damage to the China equity markets seemingly subsided for now, the residual effect to the company may all subside some.

The Merrill Lynch team sees the company as cheap, with outstanding premium growth potential. They also note that the company has gone beyond e-commerce and developed into a sophisticated new type of conglomerate in the cyber-era with e-commerce as the base for the rest of the four businesses: logistics, finance, data-computing and cross-border infrastructure. They expect a whopping 24% compounded annual growth rate between now and 2018 for e-commerce in China.

The company recently reported huge quarterly numbers, and the driving force for some of the outperformance included social features, customized mobile app for users, cross-platform user tracking and ad targeting for merchants. In fact, growth returned to the levels the company was at when it went public.

The Merrill Lynch price target for the stock is $110. The Wall Street consensus price target is lower at $105.23. The shares closed Friday up big on the day at $98.25.
Amazon

This company is the absolute leader in online retail, and it is also a dominant player in cloud storage business. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) serves consumers through retail websites, which primarily include merchandise and content purchased for resale from vendors and those offered by third-party sellers. In addition, the company serves developers and enterprises through Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides compute, storage, database, analytics, applications and deployment services that enable virtually various businesses.

AWS is the undisputed leader in the cloud now, and many top analysts see the company expanding and moving up the enterprise information value chain and Addressing a larger total available market. The company has had numerous recent product announcements, including Aurora for relational database engine, Quicksight for business intelligence and AWS Database Migration Support Service.

Amazon reported a very strong quarter with good revenue and unit growth acceleration. Top Wall Street analysts note that net sales rose 31% year over year, and while forward guidance was somewhat mixed, the firm thinks it reflects normal seasonal operating spending conditions as the company prepares for the holiday season, which is busier every year. The sales guidance was better than expected, but the GAAP operating income came in lower. Analysts also see Amazon opening 18 new fulfillment centers in the third quarter alone, versus just six in last year’s third quarter.

Merrill Lynch has a $960 price target for the stock, and the consensus price objective is $868.76. The stock closed Friday at $772.56 per share.

Priceline

This internet travel leader was a big 2015 second-half laggard and took a huge leg down earlier this year before rebounding sharply. Priceline Group Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) operates Booking.com, which provides online accommodation reservation services, as well as Priceline.com, which offers hotel, rental car and airline ticket reservations services, as well as vacation packages and cruises through its Name Your Own Price and Express Deals travel services. It also operates Agoda.com, an online accommodation reservation service for consumers in the Asia-Pacific region, and RentalCars.com, which offers car rental reservation services.

Trading at a low 17 times fiscal year 2017 earnings estimates, the travel giant is seen by many Wall Street analysts as an “open-ended” growth story. Many on Wall Street continue to see comparisons easing for international bookings and margins will improve in the second half of the year and into 2017.

Priceline reported earnings last week, and while revenue was in line with Wall Street estimates, earnings per share and EBITDA came in better. Bookings growth was solid driven by a 24% year-over-year gain in hotel room bookings. Merrill Lynch is above consensus going forward and did note that while the recent terror attacks in Europe impacted gross bookings and cancellations in respective markets, they did not have an impact on overall growth.

The $1,580 Merrill Lynch price target is well above the posted consensus target of $1,557.51. The stock closed on Friday at $1,407.98.

These top companies are big internet players in their respective fields, and all continue to dominate their opposition in ways that are almost impossible to overcome. While competition and the pressure to perform are always there, these companies are delivering.